Faia Younan (; born 20 June 1992) is a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

- Assyrian

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

, considered the first Middle Eastern artist ever to crowdfund her debut.

Early life

Younan was born on June 20, 1992 to an

Assyrian Christian Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

family in the city of

Al-Hasakah Al-Hasakah (; / ; ) is a city in northeastern Syria and the capital of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445, Al-Hasakah is populated by Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. A ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and grew up in the city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. At the age of eleven she moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with her family and settled there until she moved to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 2010 to study Social Sciences; Economics and Business in the

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

. After graduating she moved back to Sweden. Younan was a volunteer in the

Swedish Red Cross The Swedish Red Cross ( Swedish: ''Svenska Röda Korset'') is a Swedish humanitarian organisation and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Founded in 1865, its purpose is to prevent and alleviate human suffering wher ...

and sang in local events.

Career

In October 2014, inspired by the political atmosphere in her native Syria and its neighboring Arab countries which she described as "loaded and hopeless", Younan published a video that she created with her sister Rihan, titled "To Our Countries". The video, which addresses the political reality of the Middle East and features Younan's rendition of several songs by Lebanese diva

Fairuz Nouhad Wadie Haddad (, ; born November 20, 1934 or November 21, 1935), known as Fairuz (, ), is a Lebanese singer. She is widely considered an iconic vocalist and one of the most celebrated singers in the history of the Arab world. She is pop ...

, went viral on YouTube and received exceptional attention, encouraging Younan to continue pursuing a career in music. The success of the video had the biggest impact on her decision on turning singing from merely a hobby to a full-time commitment. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Younan released her debut single "Ohebbou Yadayka" (I Love Your Hands) followed by two other singles. "Ohebbou Yadayka" crowd funding campaign got Younan, in association with her manager Houssam Abdul Khalek, to

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the first Middle Eastern artist to crowd fund her debut song. This makes Younan the first female artist from the Arab World to enter the Guinness World Records Book. In 2017, she released her debut album, ''A Sea Between Us''. She was featured on the single " Busted and Blue" (Faia Younan Special)" from virtual band

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

' which appears on two versions of their ''

Humanz ''Humanz'' is the fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on 28 April 2017 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It was the band's first studio album released in seven years, fo ...

'' album. In March 2019, Younan started releasing her second album ''Tales of the HEart'' digitally. The album contains 8 songs, referred to as tales, since each song is unique in musical genre and topic.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Younan, Faia 1992 births Living people Singers who perform in Classical Arabic Musicians from Aleppo 21st-century Syrian women singers Alumni of the University of Glasgow Naturalized citizens of Sweden Syrian women activists Arabic-language singers of Syria Assyrian musicians Assyrian women